This is not an easy question to answer as there are so many interesting topics, issues and themes! And I know we will discover more over the course of this program. When I applied to the program I was particularly interested in three broad themes/areas: technology in outdoor education in primary, digital literacy and technology use in primary, and technology use in relation to the teacher and teacher’s role in elementary education (i.e teacher training, use of technology, how technology is chosen, etc), Since applying to the program I started a contract as a FSL (Core French) teacher for K-3, so I have now become even more interested in technology in relation to second language teaching.

My interest in technology in relation to outdoor education stems from a love of working with children outdoors. My mom runs an out-of-school care that was largely outdoors for 20+ years with a focus on free play, and post-COVID it has moved almost entirely outdoors. For years, I have witnessed and heard the benefits of having children work and play outside and I knew more outdoor time was something that I wanted to implement in my teaching practice. I also love technology, having worked in marketing and social media for 15+ years; having always been an early adopter of new technologies; and having always been the defacto “tech support” at any job I have. So I was immediately interested in how could I possibly combine technology and outdoor education, two (potentially) disparate things? I am also interested in how can I bring more regular classroom activities outdoors and maybe technology can help do that. I also think using technology outdoors could possibly help to teach primary students to use technology as more of a tool and not simply for entertainment and play. Perhaps getting students to engage with technology in different settings and for different uses, will help change and shape students’ relationship with technology, and could even help improve digital literacy at the same time.

Doing a little research, I came across this U of T Masters of Education thesis, “INTEGRATION OF NATURE-BASED LEARNING AND TECHNOLOGY TOGETHER,” (L.Cole, 2017) https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/76954/1/Cole_Lisa_201706_MT_MTRP.pdf. It looks at “challenges, benefits, and outcomes associated with the integration of nature-based learning and technology together in education, guided by the research question: How is a small sample of primary/junior elementary educators in Canada integrating nature-based learning and technology together to support students’ learning and development, and what outcomes do they observe from students? (pg. 2, L.Cole. 2017).” They found the benefits of cross-curricular connections, inquiry learning, community building, and citizenship. This piqued my interest as I am interested in communities,  and community building (in person and online) and citizenship, and it was good to see there was already some research supporting these connections. I was also interested in the benefit of cross-curricular connections as this could tie into the idea of technology enabling the teacher to bring more regular classroom activities to the outdoors. This all being said I am still not sure what my focus area will be.

I also began to dive a little bit into overall research on the use of technology in primary. A common theme in research, and that I hear anecdotally, is that teachers feel there are a lot of barriers to the use of technology in the classroom. Barriers like lack of training, lack of access, lack of knowledge and lack of clear connection to curriculum and curricular competencies.  In “Technology Education in Primary Schools: Addressing Teachers’ Perceptions, Perceived Barriers, and Needs.” International Journal of Technology and Design Education, (Pappa, Christina Ioanna, Despoina Georgiou, and Daniel Pittich. April 30, 2023) https://dteacheroi.org/10.1007/s10798-023-09828-8, their findings show “the essential determinants for the integration of technology [are] teachers’ technology content knowledge, confidence, need for training, and need for clarity in curriculum standards.” This continues my potential interest in research best practices for technology use in primary or maybe even a framework for integration.